A square on the 4th, 5th, or 6th rank protected by your pawn that cannot be easily dislodged by enemy pawns.
Why it matters
An outpost is a square in enemy territory that your pawn defends and no enemy pawn can attack. A knight on one is often the best piece on the board, because it cannot be chased away — only captured, and capturing it usually costs a bishop.
It is the clearest example of a lasting advantage. Pieces move; a square does not, and a square that no pawn can challenge belongs to you for the rest of the game.
See it on a board
The knight on e5 is defended by the d4 pawn, and Black has no d- or f-pawn left to challenge it. It will sit there for the rest of the game.
Checked: the position really has the feature described.
How to play it
- Find squares on the fourth, fifth or sixth rank that one of your pawns defends.
- Check that no enemy pawn can ever attack that square — if a pawn can come, it is not an outpost.
- Put a knight there, and be ready to recapture with a pawn if it is traded, which keeps the square.
At each level
The same idea, said the way it is taught at each age.
Knight · ages 4–6
A knight is strongest when a pawn protects it and no enemy pawn can chase it. Look for that square before you move the knight anywhere.
Rook · ages 6–9
Outposts are worth manoeuvring for. A knight that takes three moves to reach e5 is usually better spent than one developed quickly to a square where it can be kicked.
What goes wrong
- Calling a square an outpost when an enemy pawn is still two moves from attacking it.
- Putting a bishop on an outpost. Bishops do not need protection from pawn attacks; knights do.
Questions people ask
- Which piece belongs on an outpost?
- A knight, almost always. It is the piece that gains most from a square it cannot be chased from, and the piece that suffers most when it has nowhere to stand.